Katie Couric RILLY annoys me!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/03/palin-on-fox-news-couric_n_131655.html

Appearing on a friendlier news outlet, Gov. Sarah Palin said she was "annoyed" with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama.

In a portion of her sit-down with Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, Palin claimed that Couric's questions -- which produced a series of staggeringly embarrassing responses -- put her in a lose-lose position.

"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."





For the record, Couric asked her, among other things, what type of news sources she turns to for information, which Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with, why Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience, her opinion of the bailout package for Wall Street, and where she thought Vice President Dick Cheney erred. Which one of those questions was designed to trip her up (as opposed to, say, give viewers a better sense of her character and views) is tough to ascertain.

Later in her interview with Cameron, Palin offered a sense of what she thinks would have been a fairer set of questions. Unsurprisingly, they all would have provided her the opportunity to rail against Obama.

"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

Will Someone Put Sarah Palin Out of Her Misery?

Palin Is Ready? Please.

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where--where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to--to our state."

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. "It is from Alaska that we send out those ..." What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. ("We mustn't blink.") But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.



Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that's why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street's most toxic liabilities. Here's the entire exchange:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the--it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

This is nonsense--a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.

And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout, the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the trillions).

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

Posted by Fareed Zakaria on September 28, 2008 10:56 PM

CNN Documents Palin's Numerous Misstatements

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tc7BF_Fd7I

Palin: Democrats spreading misinformation and lies

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080905/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin

By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago

"In the fundraising letter issued Thursday, she cited "the Obama-Biden Democrats" and said the "misinformation and flat-out lies must be corrected."

She did not take questions from reporters."

So, if she did not take questions from reporters, how do we know which misinformation and lies she is complaining about? Palin always lacks specifics, except when it comes to her extremist views, which lack any factual foundation. -ed

MINNEAPOLIS - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Thursday blamed supporters of the Democratic presidential ticket for spreading "misinformation and flat-out lies" about her and her family.

But her spokeswoman said Obama's campaign was not responsible, even though a Palin fundraising letter named the Democratic ticket with the words: "the Obama-Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain."

The Obama campaign has raised questions about Palin's qualifications based on her six years as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and less than two years as governor, but Obama himself has said her family should be off-limits. He also said he would fire any staffer who talks about it.

Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said: "We appreciate the fact that he came out and condemned this kind of personal attack." Asked whether Palin thought Obama or his running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, were personally responsible for the attacks mentioned in the letter, Comella said, "No."

Asked who was to blame, the spokeswoman said, "You want me to tick through all the stuff that's been ticking through all the blogs the past few days? What about the stuff that was on Daily Kos, that rumor that was spread?"

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said "the only 'flat-out lie' is this ridiculous claim, and it proves that John McCain has wasted no time in teaching Sarah Palin the ways of the Washington he's inhabited for the last 26 years."

By acclamation, the Republicans nominated Palin as their vice presidential pick Thursday night, an almost anticlimactic step after McCain's surprise selection of her last Friday and her speech Wednesday night.

Palin herself met with Republican governors Thursday and said afterward that leading a state means you have to make decisions and not just vote "present."

"We don't have a 'present' button as governor — we are expected to lead, we are expected to take action and not just vote 'present,'" said Palin, who is in her first term as Alaska's governor. "So there's a big difference, of course, between the executive and legislative branches and our experience."

Palin was referring to Obama's days in the Illinois Senate, when he voted "present" dozens of times among the thousands of votes he cast in his eight years there. The move is common among Illinois lawmakers, but has become a favorite Republican complaint about Obama.

The vice presidential candidate met with the governors on the morning after her speech to the Republican National Convention. In the days since her selection as John McCain's running mate was announced, questions have been raised about the 44-year-old governor's qualifications and experience, and it was revealed that her unmarried, 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant.

In the fundraising letter issued Thursday, she cited "the Obama-Biden Democrats" and said the "misinformation and flat-out lies must be corrected."

Palin said Thursday that she has "a big job cut out in front of me running for vice president."

She did not take questions from reporters.

Palin introduces herself, jabs critics

Palin introduces herself, jabs critics

By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY
ST. PAUL — For five days, Sarah Palin has undergone personal and political scrutiny, attacks from Democrats and praise from her fellow Republicans.
Finally, the GOP vice presidential candidate introduced herself to the nation by tracing her rise from team mom to governor, highlighting experience she says is more valuable than that of the legislators on the Democratic ticket.


PALIN'S SPEECH: Read the full text (PDF)

For many Americans, Palin's speech is the closest look at the Alaska governor chosen by Republican John McCain as his running mate. Palin talked about her background in the town of Wasilla, where she got her start in politics on the local PTA, and her record in the statehouse, where she overhauled Alaska's ethics laws. She served as mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002 and was elected governor in 2006.

Palin has also pushed to build a $30 billion pipeline to get natural gas from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay to the rest of the United States. The McCain campaign has touted her as a leader in efforts to reduce reliance on imported oil.

"The fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all," she said.

"In a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines, build more nuclear plants, create jobs with clean coal and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources," she said.

Palin echoed an accusation McCain has leveled against Barack Obama: that the Democrat's promise of change is really about his own political ambition.

"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change," she said.

The speech capped the third day of the convention, after Hurricane Gustav limited Monday's events. "We're back on track," said Robert "Mike" Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Palin's family was in St. Paul for her big moment and greeted McCain at the airport when he landed here. They included Bristol, the governor's 17-year-old daughter whose pregnancy was announced Monday, and Bristol's boyfriend, Levi Johnston. During the convention's evening session, Bristol and Levi held hands while seated in the VIP box.

Scrutiny of Palin has included her record as mayor and governor. But, like the candidacy of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, it has also set off a debate about gender. Republicans say criticism of Palin is sexist, particularly questions about combining the rigors of a campaign with the demands of mothering her infant, who has Down syndrome. Democrats say the GOP's attempts to appeal to female voters with a female candidate is also sexist.

"Women's support is not automatically transferable, and it is condescending to us to think that it would be," Susan Swecker, a Democratic delegate from Virginia, said in a conference call with reporters. She supported Clinton and now backs Obama.

By contrast, McCain's wife, Cindy, told PBS that she is "insulted by anyone that would assume just because a woman has children, she can't do her job."

McCain compared Palin's experience to her own: running a family business, traveling overseas for charity and being a mother: "All women know we can do it; we can do it really well, and the more you give us the better we are."

Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican former governor of New Jersey, said it will take persuasion to win over independents, particularly from states with strong support for gun control and abortion rights. Palin is a member of the National Rifle Association and opposes abortion, except when the woman's life is at risk.

"It'll take a little bit of time to say, does she approach problems … the way I would want them approached, does she think somewhat the same way," Whitman said. "Because, clearly, we'll differ on some of the basic social issues."

Lynne Cottrell, a GOP delegate from Aurora, Colo., said Palin's conservative views will likely bother "single-issue" voters. However, she said bringing Palin onto the ticket was necessary to ensure that Republican voters who have been "complacent" about McCain because of his work with Democrats will now get fully behind him. "They needed to do that," she said. "They complement each other."

Contributing: Alan Gomez








Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-03-palin-speech_N.htm